Andy Jones, HCA chairman, said: “Although the CQC results have only included four questions relating to the food service, two of these are often outside of the control of the caterer as the ward end service and in particular, providing assistance to eat to those requiring it, is a seen as a clinical role or that of a volunteer.
“In terms of patient food and drink services, the overall results are encouraging with high levels of patient satisfaction with hospital food across NHS Trusts and other health care centres in England.
“We can see a slight decline in the percentage of those satisfied and a small increase in those regarding services. These are clearly areas we need to focus on and endeavour to improve.
“The HCA is striving to support the raising of standards but having looked at the data one factor that does emerge is that where we have HCA members then the scores for food and beverage services are often higher than the national average.”
Published yearly and based on visits the Picker groups conduct on behalf of CQC, the inpatient surveys aim to provide an in-depth review of the patient experience from admission to discharge, encompassing treatment and across a wide range of provision for patients including nutrition and hydration.
They show how an organisation is performing against a range of clinical and non-clinical activities which impact on the patient experience of care such as cleanliness, maintenance of premises, delivery of privacy and dignity and the quality and availability of food and drink as well as being offered assistance to eat.
The assessment of food and hydration includes a range of questions relating to the organisational aspects of the catering service (e.g. choice, 24-hour availability, meal times, and access to menus) as well as an assessment of the food service at ward level and the taste and temperature of the food.
Added Jones: “While I believe that patient involvement is essential and critical to providing a more accurate perspective of views on food, drink and general catering services and to identifying where improvements should be made, we must not allow ourselves to become distracted by overly-focusing on scoring but to ensure we engage with the patients to see where we are not performing as we should and work to correct this.
“It is key that our menus and beverage choice meet and are suitable for the patient groups we serve as well as being flexible in both their offering and adaptability.
“The advantage of the CQC survey, along with PLACE data, is that it enables us to take a step back and explore in depth, patient feedback on specific aspects of the service and to work with the patients on those individual areas that have been identified as weaker.
“CQC scores should also not be used as yet another stick but the carrot to catalyse continuous, quality improvements which is the core ethos of the CQC.”